SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/33y6Djv
While Colectivo cafe workers were able to win 2 weeks of paid leave during the ongoing closures due to the spread of COVID 19, production workers have been informed that they have the option to work but that no paid leave will be granted, PTO will have to be used, and no corresponding wage increase will be made to reflect the increased risk of coming to work. Those who choose to stay home to take care of their families or out of concern for their health, are left without any type of income options aside from a very limited amount of PTO.
The World Health Organization has declared this a pandemic, Wisconsin has declared a state of emergency, and the CDC recommends social distancing and groups of no more than 10 people. Even if members of our staff are young and presumably healthy, we can still act as vectors, incubating the virus without showing symptoms, and transmit the virus to our at-risk coworkers, and by extension anyone that they come into contact with.
The CDC recommends that, “All employers should be ready to implement strategies to protect their workforce from COVID-19 while ensuring continuity of operations. During a COVID-19 outbreak…Employers should ensure the plan is flexible and involve your employees in developing and reviewing your plan, conduct a focused discussion or exercise using your plan, to find out ahead of time whether the plan has gaps or problems that need to be corrected, share your plan with employees and explain what human resources policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits will be available to them.”
SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/33y6Djv
In relation to production workers at Colectivo, a meeting was held in which no accommodations were made for employees in terms of having a flexible plan, discussing potential problems or changes within this plan, and leaving no room for “workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits” outside of using our PTO and staying home without pay. Please abide by Colectivo’s mission statement: we need to respect our products, people, and places. Everyone is a customer, and everyone should be treated the same. It’s disrespectful to force workers to choose between losing their wages, depleting their PTO, or putting public health at risk.
This is unacceptable as continued operations not only put every employee at risk in order to continue unnecessary production, but also fails to compensate workers for the increased risk they are taking on by continuing to work.
Colectivo production workers demand:
-Paid time off in addition to regular PTO for all those who choose not to continue working during the COVID 19 Pandemic.
-Paid time and a half for those who want to continue working their production jobs as normal, to reflect the increased risk of working in an environment with 10+ people during a pandemic.
SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/33y6Djv
